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Growing consumer spending power and affordable multiplay service bundle are fueling the adoption of prepaid satellite pay-TV services (DTH) in Latin America, especially among consumers who previously were not able to afford service offerings.

That new class of subscribers, in turn, is influencing operators to invest in expanded networks, especially fiber-to the-home (FTTH).

Despite increasing competition from over-the-top players and from satellite providers, and declining subscriber numbers, the cable industry in the European Union has continued to grow with gross cable revenues topping €22.4 billion ($23.34 billion) in 2015, a 5.7% increase year-over-year.

More than half of cable revenues in 2015 (53%) came from Internet and phone services, according to a report from IHS Markit, with Internet revenues up nearly 10% to €7.2 billion.

The U.K. government is planning to spend more than $1.24 billion (£1.0 billion) to modernize the country’s digital infrastructure with the goal of full-fiber broadband and 5G wireless technology nationwide by 2020-21.

Count Internet Service Provider (ISP) Cogent as one of the video service providers that believe over-the-top delivery will be the long-term winner in the battle for eyeballs because “it’s cheaper, it is affordable, it is time shiftable and it allows you a much greater choice in content.”

Next year, for the first time, adults in Germany will spend more time with online digital media than viewing TV, a shift in viewing patterns that are even showing up with older consumers.

eMarketer forecasts that German adults will spend 3 hours and 44 minutes per day online compared to 3 hours and 38 minutes watching television; in all, digital media consumption will be up by 5.8% among consumers 18 and older, while daily TV viewing time is forecast to decline 0.3%.

Pay TV? You don’t need pay TV. Just ask Sinclair Broadcasting, which is taking part in a five-state “broadcast liberation tour” to remind consumers that they can access dozens of local broadcast TV channels via an advanced digital antenna in high-definition for free.

Sinclair is partnering with TVfreedom.org and Antennas Direct on the tour that includes Little Rock, Ark., Macon, Ga., Charleston, S.C., Asheville, N.C. and Baltimore.

The cable industry will be buoyed by its growing broadband business as consumer preferences change over the next decade, and it expected to drive residential revenues to $117.7 billion in 2026, up from $108.4 billion this year.

Researcher SNL Kagan’s 10-Year Cable Projections also forecasts a slowing of cord cutting, and offers a slightly improved outlook for the video segment, and says bundling of services also will increase.

Broadband signups have begun to slow in the U.S. as the market begins to reach a point of saturation, but the 17 largest telcos and cable companies nevertheless added nearly 1.1 million new subscribers in the first quarter of the year.

Leichtman Research Group said the top broadband providers now account for more than 91.5 million subscribers – with cable companies having the lion’s share of subscribers, about 56.3 million, compared to 35.2 million broadband subscribers for telcos.